28 days, 28 nights
by Ice And Fire Vanessa
Summary: Haldir is forced to journey with the ever cheerful Glorfindel for a month - what slashyness can u get? R
1. 28: Deadly Cheeriness

Silent admiration,  
  
I have watched from afar,  
  
Your elegance as you take your place by your lord.  
  
The beauty of those eyes,  
  
Which are carved of bluest ice,  
  
Which flare like sapphires but chill like the night.  
  
I always fail to hold your gaze,  
  
Have you any idea how it burns me,  
  
How I fear your knowing gaze upon me?  
  
The way I dream of amidst silk sheets and velvet cushions,  
  
Or rough grass and sweetest dew.  
  
And you speak with the purr of a lover,  
  
With words clearly articulated but voice effortlessly husky.  
  
I dream of your hair, the silky golden mane falling over your shoulders,  
  
As you take me,  
  
Sending painful pleasure through me,  
  
Amidst silk sheets and velvet cushions,  
  
Or rough grass and sweetest dew.  
  
Glorfindel. Haldir had been mesmerised by the Eldar ever since he had laid eyes upon him. Haldir had always wondered at how the Eldar could have seen so much bloodshed and war yet still maintain his optimism and joy in life.  
  
Glorfindel had always managed to look vulnerable – but as they said, do not judge a book by its cover – Glorfindel possessed a muscular, lean body, beautiful and masculine at the same time. Glorfindel also had a way of speaking, the voice of the Eldar was always husky and deep but hurtfully casual at the same time.  
  
Glorfindel.  
  
'Haldir,' Haldir nearly fell straight into the river in his shock.  
  
'You look adorable when you are shocked,' the darkened skyline seemed to brighten up with Glorfindel's cheerful presence. The Eldar was standing just feet away from Haldir and Haldir had to admit that the older elf was indeed a warrior for his steps had not been heard at all.  
  
'Tis not exactly funny,' Haldir regained his composure and he stood up from his crouching position to face the elf.  
  
Glorfindel seemed slightly taken aback by the lack of good humor at the joke and to Haldir's intense pleasure, the cheeriness seemed slightly faded.  
  
There was a quiet silence before Haldir coldly reached over, ignoring the fact that he was still naked from bathing and that droplets of dark crystal gleamed over his skin to get his clothing.  
  
He was totally oblivious to the fact that Glorfindel was staring openly at him, appraising him like some predator, staring at the pale yet muscular body and admiring the way his thighs were strongly sculpted.  
  
********************************************************************  
  
Haldir tensed visibly as Glorfindel approached him near the fire. It was bad enough that both he and Glorfindel had somehow offended their respective lords enough to earn a trip to *I don't care where you both go so long as you don't disrupt order back at your homes* with Celeborn and Elrond both agreeing upon a month's of peace.  
  
'Fruit?' Glorfindel cheerily offered as he knelt down beside the marchwarden, ignoring the signs of irritation.  
  
'I prefer not,' it took all his courtesy and upbringing to force out a polite answer for Haldir very much wanted to chuck that piece of darn fruit at the smiling face. Glorfindel seemed to be unaffected by the coolness of the marchwarden.  
  
'You'd starve soon, Elfling – I'd eat if I were you,' came the infuriating concerned reply.  
  
'You are not me,' Haldir was biting back a really nasty reply as he shortly answered the Eldar.  
  
'I would hate to see you starve,' Glorfindel persisted cheerily, seeming intent to force the berries he was holding down Haldir's throat, even if it took decades of persuasion and cheeriness.  
  
'Well, I won't,'  
  
'Did the fruit offend you?' Glorfindel displayed childishness as he pretended to be the berries, 'We didn't offend Haldir, Glorfy,' Glorfindel put on a high-pitched voice as he pretended to converse with the berries cheerfully. Haldir winced visibly, unable to tolerate the cheeriness and optimism.  
  
'Glorfindel?'  
  
'Yes?' a hopeful look appeared on the Vanya's face.  
  
'I won't eat despite whatever you say,'  
  
'Oh,' Haldir felt slightly guilty, he had apparently dampened the Eldar's cheerful mood. The smile had disappeared and a slight hurt look was there.  
  
'So, stop trying,' Haldir turned away, refusing to see the hurt look on the beautiful face. Instead, he fiddled with the twigs on the ground casually before snapping one sharply and getting up abruptly. He could feel the Eldar's gaze behind him as he strode fast, determined to put as much distance as possible between them both.  
  
He was settling himself against a low tree branch when he heard twigs snapping as Glorfindel carelessly made his way towards the tree.  
  
'Haldir?'  
  
'Yes?' he knew exasperation coated his voice.  
  
'You're not offended, are you?' Glorfindel seemed so genuinely concerned that Haldir shut his eyes for a second before shaking his head. He watched the Eldar make his way back to the fire and seat himself there, silently watching the flames lick at the air.  
  
*How could I ever really get angry at you, Glorfindel?*  
  
*******************************************************************  
  
Dawn was still hours away, Haldir calculated meticulously as he leapt lightly off the tree branch and made his way towards the river. He had taken a look at the apparent sleeping figure of Glorfindel – Glorfindel apparently even smiled cheerfully in his sleep – and had shuddered – another 28 more days with that cheerful seneschal.  
  
The river was silent, the waters idly flowed by, leaves and twigs carried along. He needed a bath, Haldir realised. The fiery passion in his dreams had left him perspiring and drenching his own shirt.  
  
He was unbuttoning his shirt when he saw Glorfindel – the golden mane of the Eldar loose upon his shoulders.  
  
'Don't mind if I join you?' at least the horrible optimism was lessened into mere courtesy as the Eldar asked.  
  
'Nay – the river belongs to all,' Haldir shortly replied as he continued stripping until he stood, naked, in the shallow waters. He however purposely ignored the Eldar's presence as he splashed water over his own body, cooling the fiery heat. He heard Glorfindel enter the river but merely stopped for a second and then resumed bathing.  
  
When he finished, he dressed quickly and left the river.  
  
*********************************************************************  
  
Haldir's face darkened considerably as he heard Glorfindel singing as the elf made his way back. It did not help that the song was so joyous and bright that Haldir felt slightly sick at the thought of the middle earth harbouring so much joy.  
  
'Did you sleep well?' came the inevitable question – Haldir knew that Glorfindel would be so sprightly and happy that he would probably inquire after Haldir's health and so on.  
  
'Quite well, thank you,' Haldir formally answered.  
  
'Then we shall go on aimlessly then,' Glorfindel seemed pleased at the idea of travelling around aimlessly but Haldir only fidgeted restlessly, he had always been one who took orders and knew his goal or destination but this freedom was not suiting him well.  
  
'North, south, east or west?' came another inevitable question after less than half an hour's of riding.  
  
'Glorfindel?' Haldir needed this favour desperately.  
  
'Yes, Haldir?' Glorfindel mocked him slightly and turned to face him.  
  
'Can you just take control of everything – just plan the whole journey yourself and just give me orders?' Haldir begged wearily as he buried his face in his hands, trying not to look at the radiant smile on Glorfindel's face.  
  
There was silence – Haldir had no idea what Glorfindel was going to say in response.  
  
A smooth hand gently covered his and pulled his away from his face as Glorfindel gazed at him, for once with no cheeriness, just plain concern.  
  
'What ails you, pen-nenth?' Glorfindel asked softly.  
  
'This journey,' Haldir tried to minimise space for Glorfindel to ask more things.  
  
'And what about this journey?'  
  
'You and I both offended our lords, perhaps humiliation at being sent away ails me?' Haldir suggested.  
  
*Oh, you have no idea if this is a punishment or Elrond and Celeborn's gift to me*  
  
'You feel humiliation? Why, I see this as a holiday, as a month of rest and play – perhaps if you did not burden your soul that much, the skies would be clearer,' Glorfindel offered simply.  
  
And so thus the longest-ever-no-sarcasm conversation between the two elves ended.  
  
**********************************************************************  
  
'Flowers?' Glorfindel brightly shoved the stalks of wild flowers he had gathered during the resting time at Haldir. Weary eyes softened into memory as Haldir for once did not push away the gift but threaded his fingers among the stalks of fragrance.  
  
'I liked to see flowers in gold – Galadriel used to fascinate me whenever she allowed me to place flowers among her hair as an Elfling,' Haldir mumbled incoherently as for once, he slipped his hand into the Balrog Slayer's and pulled the other elf closer.  
  
Glorfindel could have pulled back if he was uncomfortable with the closeness but he merely went as close as Haldir wanted and smiled indulgently as he felt Haldir slide a flower through his golden hair, laughing in delight as the sunlight caught the golden hair and gleamed beautifully.  
  
'Lirimaer,' Haldir laughed delightfully as he took in for the first time, the breath-taking beauty of the Balrog Slayer.  
  
Glorfindel had no idea what made him do it but his hands reached up and grasped the marchwarden's shoulders before leaning closer and pressing his lips against the marchwarden's in a chaste kiss.  
  
******************************************************************  
  
Review, ok? It's my first go at Glorfindel/Haldir slash.  
  
How will Haldir react to this kiss? If I don't get at least five reviews, I swear I shan't update. =) 


	2. 28: A Challenge of Sanity

Reply to your reviews:  
  
saint: hey, I updated, so you must read and give me suggestions, alright?  
  
Laureline: hmm, I will try to give time for reflections and all that stuff but do bear with me if it is still to fast for your liking, alright? Because I have to go at an acceptable speed for all.  
  
Yumienuf2eat: your nick is rather unique. Thanks for your comment!!!  
  
Flooofy: I used to think that Legolas and Aragorn were the best pairing but I realised, after reading plenty of slash stories between H and G, that they make an even more beautiful pairing.  
  
Penny: I'll try about the angst thing, alright? Thanks for your review!!!  
  
DarkElvenQueenEternity: Did you think I'd waste a plot? Lol. I intend to write as much as possible about this pair.  
  
Rangishran: here, I tried to improve the breaks by adding stuff like FLASHBACK and PRESENT to clarify, alright?  
  
Crazy-haldir-fancier: Thanks for your review. You should try the Library of Moira – I think it is spelt that way – it has lots of slash pairings. Have fun!  
  
Quantuminferno: long and complicating nick you've got there...lol, thanks for review and I've updated!!!  
  
Cobweb of Forever: Yay, I updated – do your part by reviewing alright?  
  
Giggles1995: your nick suggests that you are some real optimistic person. Thanks for reviewing, short and sweet!!!  
  
Immediately, a strangled yell came from the marchwarden and scared Glorfindel so much he leapt away even faster than he had while battling with the Balrog. He watched next, torn between amusement and slight apology, as Haldir took a step back and spat several times on the ground, clearly trying to erase the horrifying memory.  
  
'It's just a kiss, you know,' Glorfindel offered, trying to pacify Haldir but it just happened to be the wrong thing to say – ah well, lets not blame him for not knowing Haldir well.  
  
'It is NOT just a kiss!' Haldir exploded furiously, 'It's an invasion of one's privacy and mouth!'  
  
'Oh, come on, you should know that male elves do kiss each other,' Glorfindel was unable to hold back his tongue as he retorted, trying to forget the comment about invasion of the mouth.  
  
'Well, I know but I don't!' was followed by a stream of elvish abuse delivered very smoothly in a rage-filled voice.  
  
Glorfindel watched, his eyebrows arched regally, as Haldir spat a few more times on the ground.  
  
'I have no threatening disease,' Glorfindel declared himself healthy and well politely.  
  
'Who knows if you tried kissing the Balrog, I wouldn't put it past you,' came the swift response as Haldir winced at the possibility.  
  
Later on, if Haldir was asked what he thought of the incident, he would gratefully thank Glorfindel – who would most likely be cheerfully smiling – for not having lost his temper and broken Haldir's neck. But at the point in time, he was too horrified to think of his own insolent words and the possible consequences.  
  
Later that day  
  
They had not spoken since the incident in the morning – Haldir was fuming still while Glorfindel – ah well, as usual had a smile playing on his face – which indicated that he was not angry at the younger elf.  
  
Glorfindel had learnt from the morning's unfortunate incident that an angry Haldir was not a logical Haldir and was best left alone until the furious rivers were calmed into lazy streams.  
  
He just concentrated upon memory, taking something to amuse himself with and his thoughts lingered upon the true reason of this journey.  
  
FLASHBACK  
  
Weeks ago  
  
'Glorfindel?' Elrond knocked upon the door, wishing to discuss something that pertained to the Vanya which was not exactly his favourite subject.  
  
'Come in, Elrond, what troubles you?' Glorfindel cheerily beamed as usual and started pouring fine wine for the lord who looked as though he would rather face an orc army all alone than broach on a certain subject.  
  
'Well, ah – you see, Glorfindel, certain – um – things have been – er – ailing – no, troubling me – not that they hint of danger' Elrond had hastily added when he saw Glorfindel instinctively look outside the window in search of any sign of orc army or whatever, but he had a feeling that this was even worse than the orcs, 'but rather – they pertain to your interests,'  
  
'My interests?' Glorfindel questioned, quite confused.  
  
'Yes, your interests – romantic-wise more like it – well, you see, ever since you came back from Mandos – actually in fact from the very moment I knew you – I observed that you are always without a partner,'  
  
'A partner?' Glorfindel repeated as though the idea was quite absurd.  
  
'Yes,'  
  
'For what?' Glorfindel's too innocent way of questioning made Elrond narrow his brows in suspicion – Glorfindel seemed too innocent for real, but anyway, Elrond had gone this far and he would persevere.  
  
'Things elves do at night with a partner,' Elrond stressed the word "with".  
  
'Oh, I don't see what's wrong with dining alone,' Glorfindel replied.  
  
'No, not THAT, dining alone has nothing to do with this – it's matters pertaining to things you do in your bed with a partner,'  
  
'Oh – sex,' came the honest reply and Elrond badly wanted to kill the Vanya for having poked fun at him at his expense – Glorfindel had known what he was referring to all along and those innocent remarks about dining alone had been to amuse himself.  
  
'Yes, your sexual life,'  
  
'Ah – now that's a dry topic,' came Glorfindel's self comment.  
  
'I don't care if it's dry or dripping wet,' Elrond glared at Glorfindel who was smothering his laughter at the comparison. Elrond was sometimes too uptight to see the suggestiveness of his comparison.  
  
'What about it?'  
  
'I have noticed that you appear lonely at night especially when it comes to sexual things,' Elrond was refusing to use more blunt terms, referring instead in an elegant manner.  
  
'And what do you propose?'  
  
'Finding you a partner – they say a happy lord is a good lord, Glorfindel,' Glorfindel snorted rudely here but Elrond did not give way.  
  
'But I'm afraid I'll disappoint you,'  
  
'Oh, why?'  
  
'I have long admired a certain someone,' Glorfindel grinned happily at the idea of turning the tables upon Elrond.  
  
'And he's a male elf,' Glorfindel went on, grinning at the shocked look on Elrond's face, wanting to scare the Peredhel even more.  
  
But he failed as Elrond turned the tables back, his eyes twinkling with knowing laughter.  
  
'And he has silver hair, with a sharp tongue and a well-known coldness about him, not to mention he lives in Lothlórien, isn't it?' Elrond smoothly rattled off.  
  
'How did you – ' Glorfindel paled slightly in alarm.  
  
'Never mind that, what is his name?' Elrond innocently asked now, grinning like a cat.  
  
'Come on,' Elrond prompted.  
  
'Haldir,' came the whisper from the shocked seneschal.  
  
PRESENT  
  
For once he had been beaten, Glorfindel sucked at his lower lip in slight annoyance. But never mind the initial shock, he was quite pleased when Elrond decided to do anything in his power to somehow get the cold marchwarden for his seneschal and Lord Celeborn's help had been enlisted.  
  
And he got so happy at the idea that he started singing – not that his singing was lousy or anything – but rather, his infuriating cheerfulness got on Haldir's nerves again and the marchwarden snapped.  
  
'Halt,' Haldir deliberately rode his horse across Glorfindel's path dangerously.  
  
'What now?' the seneschal demanded, still managing to sound patient and sweet.  
  
'I'm challenging you,' Haldir bluntly said.  
  
'Oh, for what now?'  
  
'If I win, you've got to keep your tongue to yourself and just stay quiet for the rest of the month,'  
  
Oh, a bargain, how terribly interesting and easy to turn the tables upon, Glorfindel thought.  
  
'If you lose?'  
  
Haldir's swift narrowing of eyes told the seneschal that the elf was so arrogant he had forgotten that Glorfindel was a warrior in his own right and had the height and built advantages.  
  
'I'll leave you to settle that be it suits you, but I will not lose,' Haldir confidently snarled the last sentence.  
  
Glorfindel thought for a moment but thinking to give the younger elf way out of this bargain, he spoke again.  
  
'But why this challenge in the first place?'  
  
'I can't tolerate your cheeriness anymore – the world has naught of the limitless joy you sing of,'  
  
Silence. Glorfindel was contemplating the elf.  
  
'I accept,'  
  
Yay, I updated. You guys must review alright? Tell me the good and bad points about this chapter...btw, I love Glorfindel's mock innocence with Elrond. I thought that was funny to write about!  
  
Ice And Fire Vanessa  
  
8-5-04 


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